Foes say Cary trash-facility plan stinks

McHenry County to hold hearings

February 13, 2003|By Tim Kane. Special to the Tribune.

Residents and municipal leaders are opposing a plan to build a solid-waste transfer station on unincorporated land north of U.S. Highway 14 between the Hollows Nature Preserve and Bright Oaks subdivision in Cary.

McHenry County has received a petition from Marshall Lowe to create a transfer station on 2 1/2 acres behind a concrete recycling plant that Lowe owns on U.S. 14 in unincorporated Cary, said John Labaj, a deputy administrator with the county.

Labaj said the site would handle up to 600 tons of solid waste each day. The transfer station, a cost-saving measure in the waste-hauling industry, allows curbside haulers to deposit loads at nearby locations where the waste can be massed and hauled away in larger trucks, he said.

Some residents and local officials are fuming at the proposal.

"You can pour all the perfume you want on this," said Steve Lamal, a Cary trustee. "It's still garbage, and it is still going to smell. It's going to affect property values. We're going to become known as the village with the garbage transfer facility."

Steve Barrett, president of the nearby village of Trout Valley, agreed: "It is absolutely in an inappropriate location, between a nature preserve and residential housing. There's going to be an increase in truck traffic, smell and litter blowing around on windy days."

Lowe could not be reached for comment.

Some residents are planning to picket the entrance of the Bright Oaks subdivision, at Three Oaks Road and Oak Valley Drive, at noon Saturday.

The County Board will hold public hearings on the issue from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. March 1 at Husmann Elementary School, 131 W. Paddock St., Crystal Lake, and March 2 and March 3 at the Crystal Lake Holiday Inn at Three Oaks Road and Illinois Highway 31.